The Bard&#039;s Tale IV Trailer Showcases Exploration And Combat

The Bard’s Tale IV is one of Game Informer‘s Most Anticipated RPGs of 2017, and with good reason. After a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2015, developer inXile Entertainment (Wasteland 2) has been hard at work making sure that their latest revival winds up being worthy of its legendary namesake. To that end, they’ve just released a new video which shows off an in-game first look at what we can expect from combat and exploration.

At first blush, the game looks like something out of The Elder Scrolls, with first person adventuring within a picturesque fantasy world. Of course, true to the lineage of The Bard’s Tale, dialogue is rife with snarky humor and the series’ trademark irreverence. Once the player engages a squad of goblins, we finally get a look at the battle system in action. Combat is phase-based, but takes place on the same screen as exploration, and doesn’t break the first-person perspective. It’s unapologetic in its old-school sensibilities, and longtime fans of the series wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Bard’s Tale IV launches for PC in October 2017. For more on developer inXile, check out our review of their other big franchise resurrection, Wasteland 2.